The search for a new West Coast Conference commissioner is expected to gather speed in coming weeks, with a replacement for outgoing boss Jamie Zaninovich likely named by early June.

Zaninovich, who has steered the league since 2008, will become the Pac-12’s deputy commissioner on July 1 and, to the best of my knowledge, the WCC has no intention of appointing an interim.

The league wants a permanent replacement in the hot seat on July 1.

Portland athletic director Scott Leykam, former Portland (and Marquette) AD Larry Williams and Lynn Holzman, the WCC’s current COO, are three potential candidates, according to sources. But I’m sure there are others and the goal here is not to evaluate their merits or speculate on the eventual outcome.

Instead, the goal to provide a brief overview of what the WCC needs in its next commissioner, which provides us a chance to examine what the league needs in its current CEOs.

Time for the annual exercise in futility that is the early top 25. I’ve done it for the Merc every year since 2005 — before the Hotline was created (here’s a blast from the past) — and have found it’s just as difficult as the football version despite smaller rosters.

Not only are there more teams capable of finishing high in the polls (and winning the title), but the combination of spring recruiting, transfers and NBA defections makes lineups difficult to project at this point, two days after the tournament.

Here we go …

(I retain the right to revise the projections based on draft decisions and spring recruiting. In fact, count on it.)

* 8:50 a.m. update: Per a source, Dayton coach Archie Miller is not interested in the Cal vacancy. That should provide some clarity on the likely candidate pool that I describe in general terms below. I’m extremely curious to see what direction the search takes in the next few days, as Barbour whittles her initial list of 15-20 down to a targeted 4-6-8 candidates …

*** Here’s an early version of my column for Wednesday’s Merc.

The first portion, about AD Sandy Barbour’s role in the search, includes some commentary from my Hotline post of Monday afternoon. The second half of the column addresses how the Cal job is viewed within the coaching industry.

The bottom line: As noted here in the fall, Cal has an identity problem that is bigger than basketball and bigger than football — and cannot be resolved without serious discussion at all levels of the university // …

Cal’s search for a successor to Mike Montgomery shifts into high gear later this week when athletic director Sandy Barbour heads to the Final Four, a gathering spot for hundreds of coaches, to identify candidates.

Barbour said she hopes to have a new coach in place by the end of next week “in an ideal scenario.”

In the interim, expect a steady stream of speculative media reports with the names of real, potentially-real and no-chance-in-heck candidates.